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Seeking the Deathless: chanting & stories of the Buddha for Vesak 2018
Vesak is the celebration of the Buddha’s birth, liberation, and death, falling this year on the late May full moon. We took a break from the social justice series we’re in the middle of to chant and hear stories remembering the life and insight of Siddhartha Gotama (mostly from the Lalitavistara Sūtra), who became the…
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The Discourse on Loving-Kindness (Mettā Sutta)
I’ve been wanting to do this series for a long time. We’re taking several weeks to study our way slowly through the beautiful Mettā Sutta, the Discourse on the cultivation of Friendliness, or Loving-Kindness. It’s a joy to discuss, and we’re learning to chant the sutta as well. Here are the talks and meditations from…
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Going for Refuge to Buddha, Dhamma, & Sangha
How the foundational Buddhist practice of Going for Refuge is more profound than we often think, and can be a simple but powerful ritual to support us on the path. https://seanfeitoakes.dreamhosters.com/talks/20170124-Satsang-Refuge.m4a
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Theravada Refuge & Precepts Pūjā
Every week at Satsang, we do a short chanting ceremony called a pūjā, or devotional ritual. We chant a few ancient verses in Pāli, the language of the early Buddhist texts. These verses are excerpts from a longer sequence of chants done daily in Theravāda monasteries, emphasizing the basic lay (non-monastic) practices of going for refuge…
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Chants: lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu
We do this chant at the end of the Satsang meditation period. It’s an ancient mantra beloved in both the Buddhist and Hindu Yoga traditions, and translates roughly as: May all beings be at ease. OM, Peace, peace, peace. If you want to use it as a mantra to repeat, you could omit the “oṃ…